Merry Christmas around the world

Joyeux Noel et Bonne Anne'e!

(Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in French)

Polar Bear Flocke celebrates his 4th Birthday

at the Marineland Aquatic Park

Antibes, France

photo by Eric Gaillard

So many wonderful traditions from so many different people groups.

Let's see a few celebrations of Christmas and the holiday time,

around the world.

1500 school children dressed as Santa Claus

Chennai, India

photo by Babu

Nave sal di mubaraka

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in Punjabi,

spoken in  India and Pakistan

Christmas decorations in the

Piazza Venezia, Rome, Italy

photo by Filippo Monteforte

Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in Italian.

North Bondi lifeguards on Bondi Beach

Sydney, Australia

photo courtesy of www.nydailynews.com

Merry Christmas, mate!

or

'ave a good one, mate!

Merry Christmas in Australian.

(We in the USA always knew they couldn't speak proper English!)

Santacon, 2011

Trafalgar Square, London, Britain

courtesy Luke MacGregor

Happy Christmas!

Merry Christmas said in Proper English by the British!

(Yeah, okay, the British always knew we couldn't say

Merry Christmas in proper English either!)

Malaysia Aquaria, 2011

Kuala Lampur, Malaysia

courtesy of Bazuki Muhammad

Selamat Hari Natal

Merry Christmas in Malay, the official language of Malaysia,

although they have 139 languages spoken there!

Snow in Saint Petersburg, Russia

2011

photo by Alexander Demianchuk

Pozdravlyau s prazdnikom Rozhdestvai

c Novym Godom

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in Russian.

a Palestinian nun during Christmas Morning Mass at

the Latin Church of Visitation,

West Bank, Israel

photo by Al-Zababdeh

This photo was a bit tricky to credit a language to, as the West Bank is still in the hands of the Fatah (a Palestinian group) but Israel is the occupying force.

I think.

It gets confusing!

Since I have already had an Arabic Merry Christmas,

how about one in Hebrew?

Mo'adim Lesimkha

Shana Tova

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in Hebrew.

the main language of Israel,

although Arabic is a secondary official language.

That's a lot of Merry Christmas's!

- and plenty of Happy New Year's thrown in!

I would like to finish with a sweet Christmas Celebration coloring page.

Perhaps this is the best way to show a tradition that we have nothing to do with.

All of creation (including animals and birds) say

Merry Christmas

to their Creator -

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

http://www.inkspiredmusings.blogspot.com/

THANK YOU TO

http://www.thetoymaker.com/

FOR THE LOVELY HEART AND HOLLY SWAG ILLUSTRATION

Peace, G-d, a little Hebrew and International favorites

Hasiti

(There is a little 'tent' over both 'i's, but my program doesn't allow me to type those.

Sorry.)

'Hasiti' is Kurdish for

PEACE

So much unrest, cruelty and disunity around the world these last months.

Floods, droughts, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes.

If I did not believe that God has a plan,

and that He is ultimately in control

I would be very depressed.

Fortunately, God left me His Word - His plan for my life, and for yours -

in the Holy Bible.

The Bible has been translated into hundreds of languages,

so for certain I am not getting into any discussions about

'which translation is correct'.

As long as the translation is originated- and keeps the spirit and meanings of-
the original documents, then I am happy.

And I think, so is God.

hackeyscott on http://www.deviantart.com/

I had some questions about an earlier blog, where I used

G-d to represent the word 'God'.

First, the capitalization:

I believe there is only one true God, and that He is

'God over all other gods'.

See the difference in meaning there?

Just as Jesus is mentioned as 'Lord over all other lords'.

The capital letter (G or L) shows the 'top boss' so to speak!

'Earth in Hands'

Second, the missing vowel:

In the original, ancient language that the earliest Words of God were written,

there was no word for 'God' as we use it today.
In ancient biblical Hebrew, the closest English equivalent is
YHVH {called the tetragrammaton}.

Biblical Hebrew contains no vowels, so we don't know for sure how the name of
GOD was pronounced.

YHVH means "I AM"

Some scholars believe the pronunciation to have been
"Yahweh"
but this is only an educated guess.

Jews have traditionally believed that it is wrong to mention God's name and will not do so.
It is in extreme respect for God that He was so holy- that He did not have a name that we, as unholy peoples, could say aloud much less write down.

Some people call it "the Name that cannot be spoken"

or

"the Name above all other names".
Very Orthodox Jews, even when writing in other languages,
will leave out the vowels.
In English, "God" will be written
"G-d". 

As a result, many Jewish people (G-d's chosen people) would be offended if I were to write the word "God", as this is disrespectful.

As a "goyim" (Gentile, non-Jewish person)

 you will find that I vary between

God and G-d.

I want to thank Mrs. M. Walker for her kind response to my questions.

www.jewsforjesus.org

An ancient document written in Hebrew on papyrus. Dated around 100A.D.

And now for something competely different!

I do hope all of you have been at least introduced to

"Fawlty Towers", a British comedy series.

This is John Cleese in one of the programs.

He is so hilarious, and his superb crew backs him up perfectly!

Or sets him up perfectly I should say...

In case you missed this from an earlier blog,

Here is Phil Keaggy playing a wonderful song with guitar and vocals:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27GUZsrhxJ8&feature=related

Such an incredible talent.

c.1919

Oman Bedouin woman casting vote in the state of Bidiya, east of Muscat.

Pakistani boy, 10/2011

Thanks to my Pakistani readers!

Minsk, capitol of Belarusia, 10/2011

Well, the day keeps getting later, so I need to post this

before it is tomorrow!

:0)

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

"Camera Savvy"

original Collage Art Doll by inkspired